As Good As Dead

      “Like everything was playing out the way it was always supposed to from the start. Coming full circle. And she was simply a passenger inside her own body, watching the show play out” (Jackson 160). The town of Fairview is seeing yet another mystery, but this one has to do with the one and only Pippa Fitz-Amboi. Could she solve her own mystery? The final book of the A Good Girls Guide to Murder series by Holly Jackson - As Good As Dead - is Pip's last chance to save herself. The past two mysteries she has solved have put her in danger, but did this one take it too far? After receiving multiple threats from anonymous sources (which isn't completely new for her) her boyfriend and partner in crime, Ravi Singh, got worried and made her go to the police because the threats were progressing from emails to in person threats, even being left at her house. As per usual, the police wrote it off as just dramatics, so Pip did what she had to do and took it into her own hands. After some research she sees that this mystery has many things in common with the other two mysteries that she has looked into. All of the things she has learned from the start are coming full circle and starting to make full sense now. With this, Pip will come to learn that some things she just can't handle all on her own, but even with this partial realization she perseveres and comes up with a plan. It may not have been the smartest thing to do because she's unsure if it will work out in her favor. If it doesn't she hurts the people she loves, but if it does work everything will be the closest to okay it can get. The stakes are high in the final book of the series - As Good As Dead. Pip has to work harder than she ever has before in this exciting mystery-thriller. I rated this highly anticipated book 3.5/5 stars. 

        The beginning of this book begins right after the ending of the last one. Due to what has previously happened Pip has been left with some PTSD.  As Good As Dead begins with her reflecting on this, especially once the new conflict of this book is introduced. Pip started to noticed that she is getting more and more threats that repeat the same question, "Who will look for you when you're the one who disappears?" At first she didn't think much of it, but then she started to notice things in real life that made her wonder if she had a stalker. These things only increased Pip and Ravi's anxiety, especially after the police said they have bigger priorities. Being the main conflict of this book it was introduced into the book really smoothly because it connects with the last book a lot. Another conflict that was reintroduced right away in this book is the problems with Max Hastings. He remained a problematic character throughout As Good As Dead and I think that also helped with the transition into this book. Having multiple ongoing conflicts is a theme seen throughout all three of the A Good Girls Guide to Murder books. It is something that keeps the book engaging and interesting. There was something that's the exact opposite of conflict that was another driving factor of the book, and that was the relationship between Pip and Ravi. Though this was something that started in the first book it was never talked about as much as it was in As Good As Dead. Ravi was such a good supporting character that helped keep the plot and even Pip alive at times and I am happy he got even more of a spotlight in this book. Another part of the conflict and resolution that was different in this book is that about halfway through the book the first conflict was solved and then it led to the next conflict which would be resolved by the end of the book. In the past two books there was just one bigger conflict that was getting solved, whereas here there were two major conflicts that were both related to each other, but resolved one after another. After Pip solved the first mystery she then had no choice but to solve the next. She would end up doing things she has never done before for the sake of herself and her loved ones around her. The extent she goes too to protect the ones she loves is unmatched. Just as her character started at the beginning of the first book, she finished the same way. That's not to say that Pips character did not develop and change - because it did quite a bit - but through the ending of this book you can see her original personality and traits shining through. Pip was always determined, stubborn at times, and strong minded, which never changed. The conflict and the rest of the plot of As Good As Dead were written in an engaging way that made it hard to set the book down at times. 

      Holly Jackson truly brought the whole A Good Girls Guide to Murder series together with the writing of the final book, As Good As Dead. This book brought many of the original ideas full circle. Of course, the same characters are seen in this book as the other two, with the difference of a few characters being supporting side characters, rather than background characters like before. One of my favorite instances of this I already mentioned above, but that is that Ravi was more of a main character in As Good As Dead. I liked that the book was written with him as an important character because it helped give more perspective on what was going on because his thoughts and feelings were shared a lot, even though the book was written from Pip's point of view. Throughout this book you could see the relationship between Ravi and Pip develop a lot. Their relationship became an important part of the book that even helped save Pip's life at one point. The way that their relationship was written into the book was nice because it did not overtake the rest of the plot, but rather supported it. The entire book was written with elements that all supported the main ideas of the plot. Though I enjoyed most of the writing elements, I didn't completely like the way that As Good As Dead was set up plot wise. The first half of the book was written in a way that made the resolution pretty obvious, which was a little surprising to me. Holly Jackson normally does a great job writing the mysteries so that they keep you guessing, but the first mystery of this book was quite the opposite. It seemed like the answer was really obvious and the characters just weren't seeing it which is unrealistic. Pip has previously shown her skills in mystery solving and if this were written to match those skills I just don't think that it was something she would have overlooked like she did. The other part of the writing that I found weird is hard to talk about without spoiling, but just the whole second half in general. Some of the decisions made and the fact that the book was kind of split in half were both interesting choices. The ending also was also written as a way to end the entire series (which in this regard it wasn't awful) but as an ending for As Good As Dead it was a little odd. All in all, the actual writing was okay, but it was not as good as the writing in the previous books, which is a little disappointing. 

     The thought that a sequel is never as good as the original seems to stand for the A Good Girls Guide to Murder Series. This isn't to say that As Good As Dead wasn't good, it just didn't completely live up to its - admittedly - pretty high expectations. After reading this I felt like the most appropriate rating for it was 3.5/5 stars. I did enjoy the story for the most part, but I'm not sure about the ending and how the story was laid out. The things that made me not enjoy this book as much was how the beginning portion of the book was really predictable in my opinion and how the two halves of the book transitioned into one another. One thing led to another in the first half of the book and what happened was something that you could see coming, which kind of ruins the mystery portion of the book. Then it led to the next mystery in the second half and this one at least didn't have a predictable ending, but the ending that it did have was interesting. It flashed forward into the future and I didn't really like it, but I'm not sure what else they could have done because the whole part leading up to the ending was a little questionable. Overall, though, it was not awful. For As Good As Dead being the ending of a series it had to end somehow and how it did was fulfilling enough. The ending leaves you with a bit of a cliffhanger that you will never get to know the outcome of which is a little upsetting, but again, the series had to end somehow. I enjoyed this book because I really enjoyed the first two books of the series - A Good Girls Guide to Murder and Good Girl, Bad Blood. That being said, I don't think that someone who hasn't read the first two books would enjoy reading As Good As Dead. I would recommend this book to someone who really liked the prior books because it continues the characters all the way through the end.